A/N: I am really sorry for the slow update, but I promise you I will not abandon this story. Thankfully, it's still semester break for me, so I have a lot of time to write, and I have another chapter ready for next week! :D

Here it goes, chapter 6. Enjoy!

Chapter 6

"AARGGHH! HOW DARE YOU, YOU MORON! YOU ARE SO DEAD!" I was practically screeching with rage as I chased those mentally challenged boys I called friends.

They didn't even flinch, oh no. They just turned their heads back to look at me and they were practically howling with laughter as they saw me running towards them. People around the park was starting to give me weird look as I continued to chase those morons but as luck would have it, I couldn't get them. As if the weird look wasn't enough, the people seemed to have a hard time containing their laughter. Oh just great.

I was fuming. If this were a cartoon, then I would have had a steam coming out of my ears.

You see, I was practically dragged out half asleep by the boys for a morning jog, this was not a peculiar behavior since they do love to jog and I did join them sometimes.

At first I didn't notice the snickers that people were giving me as I passed them. I thought it was because my tousled morning hair and bleary eyes, or even because of my pajamas. I only started to get suspicious when the boys were trying so hard to look innocent while throwing mischievous grin towards each other.

And it wasn't until I passed a coffee house that I noticed what was wrong. There on the black window of the coffee house I saw my reflection staring back right at me with a shocked expression. Boy, they are so dead.

What kind of friends drew on their friend's face and without any guilt dragged her to a morning jog without letting her do anything else?

"Don't run away you idiot, come back here!" I yelled at their backs, all the way ignoring the strangers' pitiful looks towards my black-marker-covered face.

Giving up, I grunted and sat myself at a nearby bench in the park. A permanent scowl plastered on my face.

"What's with the long face, Ruby?" Austin called out once he got near my bench. By the look on his face, I knew he was trying not to laugh.

Instead of replying to him, I folded my hands and looked away. He, either decided to ignore my mood or really ignorant of it, just laughed and messed my hair.

"C'mon Ruby, you can't be that mad." Andy piped in while plopping himself beside me on the bench.

"Sure I can, and don't come near me, you're sweaty and stink."

Apparently I said the wrong thing because his smile only grew bigger and there was a mischievous glint in his eyes. In an instant I was enveloped in a sweaty bear hug.

"Oof! Gef off me!" I said in a desperate attempt to push his sweaty body off me.

But of course I had no such luck seeing Austin, Fred, and Seamus decided to join Andy's attempt to torture me. And that left me trapped in a hug in the middle of four sweaty bodies, gasping for air.

"Can't breef…" I squeaked

"I'm sorry if it upsets you, but don't be mad, you know it's just a joke." Seamus said after they release me. He grinned so charmingly which made me breathless.

I could only manage to nod my head and grinned back foolishly at him.

"See, you look prettier when you smile." He patted my head.

"Oh quit it you two!" Andy huffed before he took off running again with Austin. He seemed annoyed but I swore I saw him threw a knowing smile my way.

"Yep, and you know it's not that bad, I know, secretly you like it when we tease you." Fred said.

"I do not."

"Whatever. Oh, you got a drool right there from staring at my friend Seamus here." He pointed the corner of my mouth and continued to jog again, laughing all the way.

Too perplexed to say anything, I decided the smartest way to respond was to stuck my tongue at him. So, that was exactly what I did.

I knew I was being childish, but really I couldn't help it. Anyway, the boys were the one who decided to play childish by drawing on my face.

"Well, I'm going to run again, want to join?" Seamus said while getting up.

"No thanks, I think I'm going to sit here and wait for you guys to finish running."

"Okay then, oh but wait a sec." He fished out a handkerchief from his pocket and poured some water from his drinking bottle to it.

"Here, try to wipe the drawings with this." He hand me his wet handkerchief.

"Thanks." I said as I managed to do two other things at once, smiled and blushed.

"You have a lovely blush. Later, Ruby!" Just like that he took off running to catch up with his friends.

"What the hell was that?!" That was all I could managed to say. I was too dumbfounded to say anything. Did he just say that for real? I had a lovely blush? Oh God, please protect my racing heart.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket signaling that I had a text. It was from Rhonda.

When are you guys coming back? Let's have breakfast out, Diana's not in the mood for cooking.

Maybe you were wondering why Rhonda wasn't here to jog with us, seeing she was a sport girl and all. Well, she was a sport girl, but when it came to running, she somehow disliked it, not to mention she wasn't a morning person. I was actually surprised she was already up and texted me.

I looked at my watch, it was 8.18. I didn't know when would the boys done with their run, so far they already done eight laps.

It's fine by me, I'll tell the boys. We'll be back around 9, maybe? I'm not too sure.

Okay, don't be too long.

When I looked up from the screen, I noticed a presence beside me.

"Hi!" He said, smiling widely.

"Hello."

"You got some interesting drawings on your face." His smile grew wider, if that even possible.

"I know." I grimaced.

I was slightly surprised that didn't look as if he wanted to laugh after looking at my face, he didn't even shot me a weird look. But what caught me off guard was his smile, his smile never once faltered and it was a genuine one too.

I tried to wipe my face with Seamus' now-slightly-dry handkerchief again. "Does it come off?" I asked.

Smiling apologetically, he shook his head, "No."

"Ah, apparently they draw it with a permanent marker." I sighed.

"They? So you didn't draw it yourself?" He teased me.

I shot him a playful glare, "Of course not, why would I? I'm not that desperate for attention, you know."

"Of course. Anyway, how come you end up being here with the drawings on your face?"

"Well, do you see the boys right there?" I pointed him to where the boys were jogging across my bench.

"Mhm, what about them? Wait, don't say that they're the one who did it!" He seemed surprised.

"Yep, they're the one." I nodded.

"But how? Surely you won't come here willingly." He raised an eyebrow.

"That's the problem. They woke me up and dragged me here without even letting me glance at a mirror!" I exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Well that was a brilliant plan, I must say."

I scowled and he laughed.

"Anyway, my name's Tim." He extended his hand.

"I'm Ruby." I shook his hand. Judging by the manly boy it belongs to, I thought his hand would be callous, but it actually felt soft.

We continued to chat animatedly then. Despite his seemingly serious presence, he was actually nice and easy to talk to. We talked about music, hobbies, and stuff but mostly we talked about school. It turned out he was a psychology major freshman. I could tell that he had an easy going personality just by 15 minutes I spent talking to him.

It was nearing 9 when I checked my watch again, and I really should get back or else Rhonda would be really pissed.

As if on cue, I saw the boys started to walk towards me, apparently they were too tired to jog.

"Tim, I think I should get back now, the boys are finished and we need to grab some breakfast."

"Oh that's okay. It's nice to talk to you. I guess, I see you around, then?" He smiled.

"Yeah, see you around." I waved goodbye.

I jogged towards the boys with a small smile on my lips. They looked so tired, it was almost cute. If only they didn't dragged me out so early and draw on my face, I might tell them straight away that they looked cute, it wasn't as if they would be happy to be called cute.

"Here, I brought you some drinks." I handed them some isotonic drinks.

A wide grin suddenly appeared on their faces and they all cheered a thank you at the same time. See, cute right?

"What's with the smile?" Austin chirped as he gulped the drink, making him choked. He ended up coughing frivolously.

"Are you alright?" Seamus asked as he patted his back.

"Yeah, I'm good now. Remind me again not to talk when drinking something." He said before once again coughing and then taking a careful gulp of the isotonic drink.

"Are we going back to Diana's now?" Seamus asked

"Yep."

"But I'm hungry, can we grab something first?" Austin whined.

"Nope. We're heading back to Diana's first and then together we're going to go somewhere for breakfast. So, if you want to eat soon, you better walk fast so we can arrive to Diana's and go quickly." I said in a matter of fact tone.

And a chorus of yes ma'am could be heard even from the other part of the world.

"Listen, what if we race? Breakfast on the loser?" Austin suggested.

Being too tired I was, I declined. "Nah, I'm too tired."

"What about you three?" He asked Seamus and Andy.

"You're on!" Seamus and Fred said at the same time as Andy whined a 'no'.

"Nah, you guys go ahead race. I'm tired as well."

"Fine. You guys suck." Austin stuck out his tongue. "Ow! That hurts!" He exclaimed as Seamus slapped his head

"You're such a child. C'mon on the count of three." Seamus said.

And then, they took off running.

One of the best things of being left walking with Andy was some peaceful time. It was always loud and full of pointless argument with Fred and Austin, and with Seamus, well, with Seamus my heart always took a speedy rate.

"Hey, I didn't mean to pry or something, I'm just curious, okay? Who was that guy at the park?" Andy suddenly asked.

"His name is Tim. I don't know much about him, just met him when I was wiping your drawings off my face. Why?"

"It wasn't me. I didn't draw on your face." He defended himself.

"Still, you guys were in this together. In fact you, along with Fred are the ones who dragged me out this morning. I wonder where the hell my calm and peaceful friend Andy." I joked

"What can I say, we were in this together." He laughed and ruffled my hair.

"Anyway, why did you ask about Tim?"

"I was just curious." He shrugged.

"Yeah, of course." I said skeptically.

"Well, I don't know about you, but he seemed interested in you. While on the other hand I am happy someone is interested in you-"

"Wait, what do you mean by that? Do you think I am that pathetic?" I hit him playfully.

He just laughed. Oh a good friend he was.

"What I mean to say is that's okay if you too are interested in him. I mean, sure Seamus is my best friend and all, but it's been too long and he hasn't made up his freaking mind. I just don't want to see you being sad all the time because of him. You are my dearest friend, after all." He ended his long speech with a soft smile.

I literally had to shed a tear, and seeing me tearing up, he hugged me. "Thank you, really. But it's not as if I can switch my feelings from Seamus to him. I just met him today, anyway."

"I know. But hey, it applies to anyone. Just keep your options open, okay?" He patted my back

"Okay." I smiled, he really sounded like a pro in this kind of things.

"What took you guys so long?" Rhonda asked as we arrived at Diana's, she got her arms folded across her chest.

"Sorry." Andy and I said meekly.

"Just shower and change your clothes, quickly." She urged us upstairs. "Oh by the way, Andy, Seamus was looking for you in the backyard."

He grumbled a thank you and headed downstairs to the backyard.

"Vicky's taking a shower on the bathroom in Diana's room, so you better choose one of the other two bathrooms here and don't get lost." She joked. Diana's house was that huge.

"Pfft, as if. Hey do you have make-up remover? I think the drawings won't come off with only facial wash." I asked as I stepped into the huge bathroom in front of the guest room.

"I didn't bring mine, I'll ask Diana. Now go shower, you stink."

"Yes ma'am!" I said as I closed the door.

The bathroom wasn't as huge as the one in Diana's room but it was still bigger than the ones in my house.

I stared at my own reflection on the wide mirror. My hair was a mess and my face was beyond a mess. I examined the drawings on my face, they drew a mustache and beard. I must admit, it was actually funny, too bad the victim was me, it wasn't so funny anymore. They also wrote a big 'SLEEPYHEAD' across my forehead. To top it off, they also drew fangs, a pig head, and a dog footprints.

Shaking my head, I started to strip my clothes.

I was only wearing my bra and my panties when someone knocked the door.

I opened the door without much thought, thinking it was Rhonda bringing the make-up remover.

But when I saw the one standing in front of me, my brain could barely process anything. It took me exactly three seconds to make a reaction.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!" I screamed and desperately tried to cover myself while fumbling to close the door again.

There, on the other side of the door, stood a perplexed Seamus.

A/N: Thoughts, anyone? Review keeps me going, it's like ammunition for me :D